edstar1960

It's in the BLOG section - link found at the bottom of each Line 6 website page if you scroll down - and then you scroll through the entries to find it - but here is a direct link to save time: http://blog.line6.com/2013/pod-hd-amplifier-extras%e2%80%94using-the-sag-bias-and-bias-excursion-settings/

.... I don't think there is any coming .... I am sure they would have released it already if they had something they needed to share. I believe the v2.21 release is intended to be transparent and not introduce any changes to the models, it just happens that in my case and in radatats case, that it has inadvertently affected an outstanding issue that we both had from v2.10. I would love to understand why and have official doc on the subject but I don't think it will happen - they have far more important things to concentrate on - so they can't afford to waste any time getting to the bottom of why a handful of users have experienced a string volume imbalance with v2.10 and then had it largely addressed with v2.21. I am sure vast majority of users will upgrade and experience no difference, but some may encounter unexpected benefits or problems - it's just the nature of the beast. YMMV. :) :)

Did the upgrade change tone of your existing patches? Thanks.

I suggest you first try to re-install Monkey. If that doesn't fix the issue, then uninstall Monkey and re-install it one more time. If that doesn't work then raise a support ticket with Line 6. Good luck.

BTW - I saw an entry in another thread (http://line6.com/support/topic/12901-jtv-fw-221-whats-new-in-it/) where radatats reported the same experience with string volume imbalance being corrected for him when he installed v2.21. So it isn't just a one off with me ..... still can't explain it though .... it's either the re-flash process which has somehow altered something in our JTVs that has affected the string volume balance issue or there is an undocumented change in the fw that has fixed whatever our particular problem was. As I said before..... YMMV .... :)

That implies that Monkey is the latest version - so to confirm - what do you see on the Monkey pop up splash screen between Line 6 Monkey and the Copyright lines? I see 1.70. Do you see the same?

At rehearsal last night I used my alternate set up of JTV59 > VDI > HD500 > 1/4" > Behringer B210D I had used it at previous rehearsal a couple of weeks ago pre upgrade with JTV fw 2.10 and previous Hd500 fw with good results, I had to turn down high end and even roll off some low end, and it was loud enough and cutting through band mix, but last night with new fw I struggled to get sufficient volume, the top end didn't need to be rolled off, the mids were lacking and the bottom end had been boosted. I was using the same patches but they were not behaving at all the same way. Some of my patches use the same amp but increase the drive value going from crunch to heavier sound, but they seemed to have a much bigger variation in sound. Also patches that used hard gate seemed to take heavier picking to open the gate. I need to do some more investigation and thorough testing to see if I can work out what is going on. I may well have to roll back and start again. Meanwhile, if anyone else has experienced tone change issues then please share in this thread. Thanks.

Officially there is no difference. There are no disclosed notes from Line 6 saying exactly what the update contains other than perhaps support for the new Variax standard. However, when I updated, I found that the problem I had with v2.10 where individual string volumes were not "balanced" within an individual model (ie: the Low E, A, D, were much louder than the G, B and E - to the point where the high strings seemed to be equivalent to playing with the volume control on half in comparison to the low notes) was way less pronounced and the string volumes seemed "balanced" in comparison to each other. Under v2.10, I had made adjustments to the global string levels to compensate for this "imbalance" and I had also updated some individual models adjusting individual string volumes to tweak to taste to fine tune, but before I upgraded to v2.21, I reset my Global String levels to zero, and then I did the upgrade and chose to overwrite existing presets (having backed up my adjusted presets earlier). When I tried out the v2.21 fw with the models I had previously adjusted but using the freshly installed v.2.21 versions, I discovered they seemed to sound OK and balanced, unlike under v2.10 where I could immediately hear there was a big discrepancy. So I left them as they were without adjusting anything in WB HD. I have yet to thoroughly test each of my favourite models out so I may yet need to make some minor tweaks, but certainly first listen through it was an improvement over my experience with v2.10 on first listen through. I know that it doesn't make any sense, logically or scientifically. The fw should only contain support for Variax Standard and therefore there is no reason why the balance of the string volumes on individual models should have changed from v2.10 - but for some reason - and in my case - I can say it has made a difference. YMMV. :)

Are you on the latest version of Monkey? That is 1.7. First thing I did was run Monkey which told me there was a newer version and would I like to install it - I said yes. Then once that had updated. I connected up my HD500 with my JTV and ran it again - I selected JTV from the popup at the beginning and then it told me there was new software for it.

FW 2.62 should be transparent and not affect any existing patches and from what I have read on the forums pretty much everyone who has upgraded have reported no difference, however, myself and one other user did notice a difference in tone on our HD500 units when playing back our existing patches, specifically, the tone was less treble-y/harsh sounding and had more bottom end and warmth. I am interested to hear from anyone else with an HD500 that has upgraded to v2.62 and also noticed that their existing patches or the overall tone of the unit has then changed. So has this happened to you? If so, then please just let me know what the change was that you noticed, however subtle, and if using 1/4" or XLR outputs whether it was affected by GLOBAL EQ at default levels being ON or OFF, and also what setup you were using at the time? My setup: JTV59 > VDI > HD500 > L6 Link > L2m I am expecting this to be an empty thread, but if others have had the same issue, then hopefully we can perhaps determine some common factors and maybe even determine the cause. Thanks in advance.

My setup: JTV59 > VDI > HD500 > L6 Link > L2m JTV fw v2.21 HD500 fw v2.62 I just upgraded my HD500 to v2.62 and wanted to try out the Global EQ, so I needed to swap from using L6 Link to my L2m to using the 1/4" out with the switch next to the expression pedal set to Line. I tested that the Global EQ was having an effect and then disconnected the 1/4" and reconnected the L6 Link. I immediately noticed way more volume from the same patch. So to be certain I double checked and tried both connections again one after the other, and found that the 1/4" line out is much quieter than the L6 link connection. I have mainly used L6 Link and the only times I have used the 1/4" line out before were stand alone without using L6 Link so I never made a direct comparison before. I thought that L6 Link and 1/4" out at line level would produce a similar level signal but maybe I am wrong - maybe they are designed to be different levels. Questions: Is this something that has been introduced with v2.62 or has L6 Link always been way louder than the 1/4" line out level? Does anyone know what the output level spec's are supposed to be with L6 Link and 1/4" line level? Has anyone lese noticed this? Or is it just me and my HD500 at v2.62 or does it do the same thing with earlier fw levels? Thanks in advance for your input. .

I used Monkey and allowed it to do the download and install.

Fantastic once again. Thanks spending the time and effort to create these videos and for sharing with us all. :)

Resetting Global parameters is good standard practice after any fw upgrade, as well as re-calibrating your expression pedal. Line 6 included the recommendation in the release notes for v2.62: Known Issues Set List Names—If during the update process new presets are optionally loaded to overwrite the previous set, Set List names may not correlate to the new presets appropriately. This is because renaming Set Lists is not a part of the firmware update process. Set List names may be changed in the hardware using a variety of methods: System Reset—Pressing (and holding down) the four-way navigation pad to the left while powering up will perform a Global Settings reset. This action will reset all settings to their factory default and requires a recalibration of the on-board expression pedal. Instructions for pedal calibration can be found here. Due to the pedal recalibration, it is generally recommended to update the Set List names using the manual method described below. Manual—Set Lists may be renamed manually by simply highlighting a Set List name and pressing the SAVE button. Use the four encoders beneath the main display and press SAVE to complete. Here is the link to the Expression pedal calibration process: http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/pod/pod-hd500-hd500x/pod-hd500xhd500-pedal-calibration-r161 That should resolve your issues - if not then you can try a complete re-flash and another global reset, and another pedal calibration, and if it still fails then raise a support ticket with Line 6. Good luck.

The Line 6 service centre in the Midlands UK the OP is referring to, was actually the Line 6 UK Headquarters. Maybe the Yamaha take over has meant they decided to close the UK Office and move it to a central European location. I don't know for sure ... but why else close the UK headquarters?

Just to confirm - you did perform the Global reset and the Pedal Calibration again after the fw update?

Sounds like a re-org rationalisation stream lining process as a result of Yamaha take over.

Line 6 stated that everything will sound the same - just better optimised code - you should not hear any difference and pretty much everyone has reported that experience too. From what I have seen on the forums, myself and one other user reported a slight difference in terms of a reduction in trebley/harshness (or an increase in warmth/depth whichever way you want to look at it) on existing patches with HD500 units. Both of us view it as an improvement. However, 99.99% report no discernible difference. So it could just be some quirk with our particular gear and absolutely no reason not to perform the upgrade. Back up all your stuff first - perform the upgrade and see for yourself. I am confident that you will be fine, and in the extremely unlikely event that you do hear differences, then you can always roll back or tweak to taste either individual patches or using the new GLOBAL EQ if using 1/4", XLR, spdif, or headphones outputs. Your choice.

Thanks Nico. I tried it too and it didn't make any difference to my tones either. So Global EQ appears to be neutral in effect -- which is what I would expect. I wonder if rwhite used something other than default settings?

Just to clarify - rwhite137 - you are saying that if you have GLOBAL EQ on with the standard default values as supplied it adds the warmth and reduces the treble/harshness? Please can you clarify what outputs on the HD500 you are using and what you are connecting to? Thanks. hurgahnico could try his test again but this time with GLBAL EQ on with defaults and see if he then hears the same difference. I will also try it again with GLOBAL EQ off to see if the treble/harshness returns. I thought GLOBAL EQ with the default values should be flat and transparent to overall tone - it will be interesting to confirm whether or not it does add or detract any tonal characteristics.

I agree with all the above - it's most likely the toggle switch - it's either dirty or faulty. Try cleaning it first and if that doesn't fix it then replace it. They don't cost much. The Vintage V100's like many budget guitars do have the cheapest and most fragile toggle switches.

That's interesting - thanks for checking nico. I am not surprised that you didn't hear any appreciable difference because the fw update was designed to be transparent and not affect existing patches. However, over the years there have been interesting things that crop up that only affect a subset of users and often they never get a definitive answer. Also users report that re-flashing sometimes results in fixing issues - again another mystery. So this could just be one of those little mysteries - for some users with a certain batch of HD500's - for some unknown reason the v2.62 fw update apparently reduces the treble/harshness and increases the warmth and bottom end. For Dave, myself and rwhite - we have all noticed this difference - but obviously just 3 users out of how many thousands doesn't really mean anything statistically - so I guess 99.99% of users won't notice any difference. Dave's evidence is very good, as he had two units which he could A/B with identical set ups - so clearly it was not his ears deceiving him - before the update his HD500 was always more trebley than his HD500X with the same patch - after the update they sound identical. My evidence is not so good because I also updated my JTV to v2.21 and changed it's global string settings so I had a clean factory install - so this affected the guitar models being used which may well have introduced more bottom end on the models used with the patches - which in turn may well have exacerbated any extra bottom end resulting from the HD500 v2.62 upgrade, or maybe has tricked me into thinking the HD500 update has introduced more bottom end. However, I do have a V700 which was not updated - so today I will try that out and see if the patches still sound different. Just for information, the patches that I had been re-tweaking prior to the upgrade, were ones that I was deliberately setting ER to 0 and also RESONANCE to 0. Before I had used the default settings which were usually 12 and 50. Removing RESONANCE does two things, it reduces volume and it removes the low end peak around 100hz - reducing bottom end and warmth. Maybe having RESONANCE at zero highlights the difference more - by that I mean, if you already have an enhanced bass tone, then if the fw adds more bass to it then it will be harder to spot, but if the patch does not have enhanced bass then if the fw introduces more bass then perhaps it will stand out more. Certainly, if I had not been continuing using the same few patches for days before, then I may not have noticed a difference. I was very familiar with how they sounded before - so I could tell they were different after the upgrade. It would be interesting to hear from any other HD500 users who have updated that also think they have a warmer/richer sound after the v2.62 update - just to get a feel for how widespread or unique this side affect is. :)

Unfortunately I broke the golden rule of only changing one thing at a time! If only I had left the JTV upgrade till later, I would have had a much more accurate A/B situation and would be able to say that the change is 100% due to the v2.62 fw. With JTV v2.1 I had adjusted string volumes such that the lower strings were quieter but with v2.21, I reset strong global values to zero and left models as per factory preset values. So that would also increase bottom end response of the models but I don't think to the degree that I have noticed the increase with the HD500 patches under v2.62. The other thing to note is that the GLOBAL EQ defaults to ON and I did not try switching it to OFF because I assumed it was set to FLAT so should not be making a difference. So I also need to try switching it off just in case it is adding the extra bottom end and warmth instead of being transparent at default levels.

Yes I am sure. Unfortunately I do not have any before and after clips using exactly the same un-altered patch. Remember I also updated my JTV from 2.1 to v2.21 and I stuck with the default model settings and reset my global string levels to zero but before I had made adjustments for both Global and individual model string levels, That will also have some effect on the end sound. I have been playing with my HD500 a lot over and tailoring some patches over last few days immediately before the upgrade so I was very accustomed to their sound - so when I reloaded them after moving to v2.62, I can tell they are different in regards having more bottom end and warmth - so much so that I will have to re-tweak my patches again to reduce the bottom end and maybe boost the top end a little.

....... Quote from OP's original entry ..... I just want to report that with the 2.62 FW updates, the 500 and the 500X now DO sound EXACTLY alike. Before the update, the 500 sounded quite a bit more "treble-y" than the 500X with the same patches. After the update - completely the same. ...... Hi Dave, I updated my HD500 to v2.62 at the weekend and I can also report that it now sounds far less treble-y and harsh than before - all my patches have more bottom end and warmth in then before - so I am going to have to tweak them to reduce the bass and maybe increase the treble because before I was always fighting the treble and harshness which I thought was down to using digital guitar model into digital amp model into solid state powered speaker all via digital links (VDI and L6 link). No idea why this is the case, especially as Digital Igloo said they had worked extremely hard to ensure everyones patches would sound the same before and after the upgrade with the newly optimised code. This is not a complaint - just an observation - and I prefer the warmer richer sound of my HD500 with v2.62. Now I just need to put some time aside to re-tweak my patches to taste. :) Some unexpected goodness from the free upgrade! :)